Insights into how technology and the outsourcing of R&D are changing the software industry

Lots of interesting stuff this week: Luxury hotel private sales, Southwest to start service from EWR, a must-read for hospitality CISOs and more:

1. Dell offers to buy 3PAR to get into the Cloud game…HP outbids…Dell matches…HP outbids…Dell matches. The current bid is now $1.8B! Giant game of chicken or is HP suckering Dell into a bad deal.  All I know is that the 3PAR guys are loving this. The latest bid from Dell is almost twice the original offer. UPDATE: Now HP is up to $2B. @monkchips leads the bidding at $3B though J TechCrunch examines what all the hubbub is about.
2. Stealth TripAdvisor unit to offer luxury hotel private sales. Part of the current trend to expect 4-star hotels at 2 star prices. Only puzzling thing is the name: Project RICO. Makes it sound completely illegal (see definition: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). Treble damages if they mess up your reservation?
3. Online Travel Agencies are sometimes viewed as the lifeblood of high(er) occupancy rates, but also can suck the profitability out of your business. How do you solve the conundrum? Daniel Craig provides a 10-step program to decrease dependency on OTAs. I’m not sure if there’s anything in here that’s completely new under the sun, but good advice in any case.
4. Great guest post on the RockCheetah blog on why hospitality “leads” all industries in being attacked and breached by hackers…and advice on what you should do about it.
5. Good news on prospects for business travel from the New York Times.
6. Southwest Airlines to lease gates at EWR from Continental, begin service in March. Good analysis via tweet by Forrester analyst Henry Harteveldt: “I see Southwest-Continental Newark Airport slot deal as a way to get ahead of/proactively appease US govt review of CO-UA merger. Smart.”
7. How do airlines price flights? Search me.
8. Android’s openness is actually allowing carriers to perpetuate old business models and have way with consumers.
9. Microsoft founder Paul Allen sues the software industry.  Two thoughts: First I guess he felt screwing up the Portland Trail Blazers by firing the top GM in the league wasn’t enough, he might as well screw up the software industry. Second, I guess when you run out of good ideas, you might as well sue.
10. The closest thing to a viable iPad competitor? Video of a Samsung Android-based tablet in the wild. But when will it ship?